In the high tech world of data communication and the Internet, having the capability to access both private and public web sites at the same time is becoming increasingly important. While, accessing public web sites over the Internet is quite simple, accessing private web sites over the Internet is more difficult unless one is logged on to a private network associated with the private sites. Generally, private web sites are located in a private network while the public sites are located in a public network.
When a public host is connected to a virtual private network (VPN), i.e. connected to a private network using a public network such as the Internet, the host should be able to receive domain names for web sites that are associated with the VPN, otherwise, the public host is required to use raw IP addresses to communicate with the web sites associated with the VPN. Commonly, network interfaces located on the public hosts assist in this communication with other public sites, on the Internet. Each network interface has specific parameters, such as local IP address default route address, network mask, DNS server address etc. . . , that are pre-assigned. Therefore, when a public host is connected to the Internet, generally through an Internet service provider (ISP), the public host expects resolved domain name to be returned from the ISP domain name server (DNS). Any other communication between the network interface and other domain name servers may not be possible.
However, if the public host is connected to the VPN, it is required to receive domain name responses from the VPN DNS since, unlike the ISP DNS, the VPN DNS stores the web site address locations of the private web sites associated with the VPN. Therefore, in order for the public host to connect to a private web site, a modification of the network parameters on the public host, to allow communication between the network interface of the public host is unattainable.
Moreover, there are instances whereby when one is connected to a virtual private network, access to public sites may be restricted. Since the public host is generally connected to the VPN via a VPN tunnel, communication between the public host and the ISP DNS does not exist. Therefore, unless the VPN DNS is capable of resolving public web site addresses, access to public web sites may not be possible when connected to a VPN.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for resolving a web site address when connected with a virtual private network (VPN). It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that obviates or mitigates the above disadvantages.